Symptomatic arterial pseudoaneurysm is not an uncommon emergent
vascular case presenting to a tertiary hospital. These are mainly associated with
infection, iatrogenic puncture or trauma. The resultant morbidity, limb loss and
mortality present a challenge to the surgeons managing these cases. (Copied from article).
Corneal power or keratometric value represents two-third of total
refractive power of the eye. It is an important parameter in intraocular lens calculation.
Purpose of the study was to evaluate repeatability and agreement of keratometric
measurements obtained from a six points-based keratometry device; IOLMaster 500 (Carl
Zeiss Meditec AG, Jena, Germany) and two Placido disc-based keratometry devices;
Atlas Topographer 995 and 9000 models (Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, Jena, Germany). (Copied from article).
Purpose of this study was to evaluate the inter-device agreement of ocular
and corneal higher-order aberration measurements using various aberrometers. (Copied from article).
Augmented renal clearance (ARC) is a phenomenon where there is elevated
renal clearance and defined by creatinine clearance more than 130ml/min. ARC results
in changes of the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic of antimicrobial therapy being
administered, which may result in its subtherapeutic dose. We evaluated the
prevalence, risk factors and outcome of ARC in critically ill patients with sepsis. (Copied from article).
Introduction: The clinical evaluation of the three layers of tear film is still poorly described. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the value of aqueous assessment in diagnosing dry eye.
Materials and method: Schirmer test with anaesthesia (STA) and tear meniscus height (TMH) measurement were conducted on non-dry eye (NDE) and dry eye (DE) subjects in this cross-sectional study. The NDE and DE subjects were classified using two types of classification; classification 1 and classification 2.
Results: 321 subjects with 642 eyes were recruited in the study. STA was significantly correlated with TMH (r = 0.24, p < 0.001) in all 642 eyes. The comparison between nondry and dry eye subjects in STA and TMH were not significantly different (p > 0.05) if the Classification 1 was used to define dry eye. In Classification 2, there were significantly different between NDE (12.5 ± 8.2 mm) and DE (3.4 ± 0.8 mm) subjects in STA (p < 0.001). Similar trend was also depicted in TMH based on the definition of dry eye stated in Classification 2 (NDE = 0.45 ± 0.20 mm, DE = 0.39 ± 0.14 mm; p < 0.05).
Conclusion: The value of STA and TMH were lower significantly in dry eye subjects. However, the significant outcomes were only demonstrated if the clinical signs of dryness were used in the definition of dry eye.
Individuals with Diabetes Mellitus (DM) are at increased risk for developing
diabetic ocular complications. This study was carried out to determine factors
influencing eye screening among Diabetes Mellitus patients. The descriptive findings of
participants’ sociodemographic data will be discussed. (Copied from article).
The Medical imaging service in Malaysia is expanding. The presence of
imaging technologies needs to be supported by homegrown research to optimize their
use. This study investigated the contribution of researches by Malaysian practitioners to
the field of Medical imaging in the Malaysian Citation index (MyCite) database. (Copied from article).
The Cervical Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential (cVEMP) is used to
evaluate the integrity of saccule and inferior vestibular nerve. There are a lot of factors
affecting cVEMP results including stimulus types. This study was carried out to determine
the effects of different stimuli on cVEMP results and its test-retest reliability. (Copied from article).
MeSH terms: Saccule and Utricle; Vestibule, Labyrinth; Vestibular Nerve; Reproducibility of Results; Muscle Development; Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials
Gastrocnemius flap is the workhorse for wound coverage in the proximal
tibia. It can be perform by general orthopaedic surgeon because it is done without the
need of microscopic instrumentation. Its coverage can be extended to cover the knee
and midshaft of tibia when skin overlying it is included in the flap. (Copied from article).
Currently, it is almost impossible to diagnose a patient at the onset of
sepsis due to the lack of real-time metrics with high sensitivity and specificity. The
purpose of the present study is to determine the diagnostic value of model-based insulin
sensitivity (SI) as a new sepsis biomarker in critically ill patients, and compare its
performance to classical inflammatory parameters. (Copied from article).
Plasma Cystatin C (CysC) is as an early functional marker for acute kidney
injury. Estimates of glomerular filtration rate using CysC (eGFRCysC) has been used in
some clinical setting. We evaluated the utility of CysC and eGFRCysC in diagnosing acute
kidney injury (AKI) and predicting death in critically ill patients with sepsis. (Copied from article).
Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae) is a gram-positive diplococci belonging to the genus Streptococcus and it is a well-studied pathogenic bacterium. Pneumococcal diseases such as otitis media, pneumonia, sepsis and meningitis caused by pathogenic strains of S. pneumoniae still brought significant mortality and morbidity worldwide. The pathogenicity of S. pneumoniae is exerted by various virulence factors and one of it is the enzyme hyaluronate lyase. Hyaluronate lyase plays a major role in
the invasive capability of S. pneumoniae. Its mechanism of action and crystallographic
structure have been determinedbut its regulatory mechanism is still poorly understood.
Drawing connections between the nutritional behaviour and invasive property of S.
pneumoniae, CodY regulator is hypothesized as a potential hyaluronate lyase regulator.
This work was aimed to construct CodY deficient mutant of S. pneumoniae to form
foundational work for the study of CodY regulatory effect on hyaluronate lyase.
Cancer is one of the global health problems that has a detrimental effect
to a person's life. However, chemotherapeutic agents success are subject to the side
effects due to lack of specificity in the drug delivery system to cancer cells and an
increase risk of systemic toxicity to the normal cells. Polyamine transport system (PTS)
is one of the potential pathways for transporting anticancer agent into specific cancer
cells. This is due to the upregulation of PTS in cancer cells compared to normal cells for
the proliferation activity. The aim of this study was to investigate the cytotoxicity effect
of putrescine-sulphur analogues type 1 (PSA-1) and type 2 (PSA-2) on human lung
adenocarcinoma cells (A549), human colorectal adenocarcinoma cells (HCT-8) and
human breast adenocarcinoma cell (MCF-7).
MeSH terms: Adenocarcinoma; Antineoplastic Agents; Cell Count; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2; Humans; Putrescine; Sulfur; Global Health; Colorectal Neoplasms; Up-Regulation; Drug Delivery Systems; Cell Proliferation; MCF-7 Cells
The brain is the most complex organ in the human body. Robust and vigorous daily activities may cause changes to the brain structure. Huffaz, individuals who memorise the Quran undergo intensive memorization training which may lead to structural changes in specific regions of the brain.
Over accumulation of polyamines is one of the causes of cancer because
polyamines could promote the cancer cells growth. Due to the lack of specificity and
increased reports of side effects in the current cancer treatment, one of the strategies
to overcome the challenges is by utilizing polyamines as vectors of known cytotoxic
compounds to target the cancer cells. Therefore, this study was aimed to investigate
the cytotoxicity effect of Spermidine Sulphur Analogues Type 1 and Type 2 (SSA-1 and
SSA-2) against human lung adenocarcinoma cells (A549), human colorectal
adenocarcinoma cells (HCT-8) and human breast adenocarcinoma cell (MCF-7). (Copied from article).
The dopamine hypothesis has earlier dominated the theories for the
development of schizophrenia based on the early pharmacologic evidence. The
antipsychotic drugs, among others, is thought to interfere with the function of the
dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) resulting in clinical improvement. Accumulating evidence
suggest the role of epigenetic mechanisms in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.
Despite this, specific evidence linking the DRD2 DNA methylation with schizophrenia is
insufficient mainly due to the poor accessibility and limited brain samples. Of late, new
data has suggested the global impact of DNA methylation in the development of
schizophrenia, thus methylation in the peripheral blood could infer changes in the brain.
The aim of this study was to assess the DRD2 DNA methylation in the peripheral blood of
schizophrenia.
Introduction: A survey in 2011 reported that the prevalence of diabetes in Malaysia is 20.8% (2.8 million people) and 88% have uncontrolled diabetes. Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is one of the common diabetes complications in Malaysia that leads to other devastated situation including infection, amputation and death. In Pahang, 95% of the patients have uncontrolled diabetes and 50% of them suffered from DFU. Self-wound management is an important element in reducing the risk of further complications of DFU. However, little is known on the patients' understanding of diabetes and their practice of self wound management. This study aimed to understand the knowledge, attitude and practice of self-wound management among patients with diabetic ulcer in Pahang.
Materials and method: A quantitative, cross-sectional study was conducted in a tertiary hospital in Pahang involving 100 participants. Participants were recruited using purposive sampling from April 2017 until May 2017. Participants' knowledge, attitude and practice of self-wound management were measured using self-administered questionnaires. Additionally, the data on socio-demographic was gathered. The data was computed into SPSS and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.
Results: Out of 100 participants, 95% of them had good knowledge on diabetes and DFU, 84% had a positive attitude towards self-wound management and 56% perceived good practices of self-wound management. However, a chi-square test between knowledge on diabetes and DFU and practice of self-wound management found no significant interaction (p > 0.05). Meanwhile, there was a significant interaction between attitude and practice of self-wound management (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: Good knowledge on diabetes and DFU do not determine the patients’ practice of self-wound management. However, positive attitude towards self-wound management would contribute to the practice and willingness of the patients to selfmanage their foot ulcer wound at home.
MeSH terms: Amputation; Cross-Sectional Studies; Humans; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Malaysia; Surveys and Questionnaires; Risk; Prevalence; Diabetic Foot
In this paper, we study the numerical method for solving second order Fuzzy
Differential Equations (FDEs) using Block Backward Differential Formulas (BBDF)
under generalized concept of higher-order fuzzy differentiability. Implementation of
the method using Newton iteration is discussed. Numerical results obtained by BBDF
are presented and compared with Backward Differential Formulas (BDF) and exact
solutions. Several numerical examples are provided to illustrate our methods.
MeSH terms: Algorithms; Cell Differentiation; Confusion; Paper
In this paper, we consider the system of Volterra-Fredholm integral equations
of the second kind (SVFI-2). We proposed fixed point method (FPM) to solve
SVFI-2 and improved fixed point method (IFPM) for solving the problem. In addition,
a few theorems and two new algorithms are introduced. They are supported by
numerical examples and simulations using Matlab. The results are reasonably good
when compared with the exact solutions.
MeSH terms: Algorithms; Models, Theoretical; Paper